Train Watching: IHB+UP/CNW

I started taking a video of an northbound IHB train south of the UP/CNW crossing.




But the train was so slow that I switched to taking pictures of just the "fallen flag" vehicle cars and then the remaining cars since it ended up being a mixed freight. (I computed that the train was going 6 mph.)
The Diesel Shop has a link to an IHB locomotive roster. That page indicates locomotives 2163 and 2161 are NRE 3GS21B gensets built in 2012 in Mt. Vernon, IL. The gensets use three 700 hp Cummins engines. 2161 was built on a SP SD45T-2 frame whereas 2163 reused a SP SD40T-2 frame. In the following screen shots, we can see that in each locomotive the 2 gensets nearest the cab are active.

In terms of the fallen flags,

20141025 0063

there was a Chicago & North Western car...

 ...two Grand Trunk cars...

 ...three Conrail cars...

...and a Southern Pacific car.







The UP locomotives are model C41-8W 9451 and 9453 and model C44-9W 9721. In addition to the transfer train climbing the new connection to the IHB, around timestamp 2:50 is a train backing into Proviso Yard on the ground level.

I believe the bulk-head flat car was carrying steel I-beams.

There was only two gondola cars with a visible load -- coils of wire.

All four flat cars were carrying steel plates. I include a picture to record how low the steel is stacked. A reminder of how heavy steel can be.

And I looked closely for a red light on the End-of-Train device and did not notice any, blinking or otherwise.

The number of vehicle cars in the IHB train was computed from the timestamps on the video and photos and an estimate that it took 10 seconds for each 88-foot car to pass. The speed computes as 6 mph. Even I can jog that fast, for a little bit.




An analysis of the car types in the three trains. Note that I could not analyze all of the cars in the UP trains because I ran out of battery while taking the video.

	IHB	UP->IHB	UP yard
tank	13
3-bay covered	4	44	18
2-bay covered		3
gondola	9
coil	7
vehicle	40
lumber			1
flat	4
bulk-head flat	1
box		3	17
refer	4		13
	82	82	30